Chapter 9

Owen slept soundlessly that night, though Sasha woke him occasionally to make sure he was still oriented to his surroundings. By 0700, he was up and ready to be moving, but the pain in his head and arm stopped him. He was still fuzzy, and his hand and fingers still numb. It worried him- not being able to feel his hand. Everyone had been weird around him, and he was worried that his hand was gone because he wouldn't be able to tell if he wanted to.

"Sash?" He murmured, rolling over and prodding her shoulder until she stirred.

"Yeah?" She answered, pushing her red hair out of her face. Owen moved his head in the direction of the nightstand.

"Painkillers." Was his short answer.

Sasha bit her lip nervously and nodded, standing from the bed and walking to his side. She hadn't got the chance to tell him what happened to his hand. Everything was wrapped in bandages, so he couldn't see even if he wanted to. But Sasha knew what was, or- wasn't, rather, under the bandages. "Does it hurt?"

"Mostly my head, but my wrist and fingers are all still pretty numb." Owen said, looking at Sasha and giving a smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. But, hey, there's something that I want to show you." Sasha bit out quickly, reaching for the folder that was below her edge of the bed.

"Yeah, what is it?" Owen asked, interested in where the conversation was going. Sasha looked nervous, and he hated that look. It was the same one she gave him when she told him she was pregnant. "Hold on. You're not pregnant, are you?"

Sasha couldn't help but laugh. "No, Owen. I'm not pregnant." Her smile faded as she opened the folder, pulling out what Owen recognized as an X-Ray print.

"What's that?" He asked curiously, pulling himself up to sit against the headboard. Owen's injured arm was a hindrance, and he huffed in annoyance as it made it more difficult for him to get up.

"It's your final X-Ray from after Dr. Ying finished working on you." Sasha said, holding it out to him.

Owen tried to make it out to no avail, finally turning so it was facing the sunlight coming in the blinds. And he tilted his head. It was his hand. But it was… missing something. Missing a finger. And the tips of 2 other fingers. Owen narrowed his eyes, and tried to move his fingers. Nothing. Anywhere. Everything was numb. He couldn't feel anything, and it was very disorienting. But for some odd reason, a wave of relief washed over him. With the numbness he was feeling in his hand, he thought Sash was going to tell him that his whole hand was gone. He lowered the X-Ray and turned to Sasha.

"She took off a finger?"

Sasha nodded. "Dr. Ying said it was bad. She tried, but said the tissue was dying faster than she could fix it. So this was the best option, unfortunately. I'm sorry, Owen."

Owen shook his head. "It's fine."

"I- wait what?" Sasha stopped. She hadn't expected a catastrophic reaction, but she had expected something other than 'it's fine.'

"Really Sash. It's fine. I got Blue back. And if all it cost me was a finger, I-"

"It wasn't just a finger Owen. On our way out, I talked to Jack. He said that she was about to pounce on you when she knocked you down. Plus, you had a concussion, you have two broken bones, and over one hundred stitches in your arm and hands. What's gonna be next, huh? I really hope you're not thinking all of this is totally okay, because you have a two-year old daughter in that other room. The raptors are not dogs, Owen. They're natural born, instinctive killers. You may have a bond with them, but they are not trustworthy enough for you to be putting your life on the line." Sasha snapped, standing from the bed and storming out of their room.

Owen sighed, and rubbed his aching forehead with his good hand. "Stupid."

It was silent from then on. Sasha didn't talk to Owen, only even glancing at him when Hadley called her name or asked her for something. She was so infuriated by his reaction that she didn't even want to talk to him. It had been ten hours since their argument, and she hadn't said a word to him- working on paperwork and occasionally playing with Hadley whenever the little girl found her way into her Mom's office.

"Sasha." Owen was standing on the opposite side of the kitchen counter as her, but got no response as she washed dishes. "Sasha, please?"

Before any answer or sort or response, Sasha's phone rang loudly from her back pocket. She reached for it, answering the call as she saw Claire's name across the screen.

"Hello?"

Owen watched as Sasha seemed confused, but nodded. After about five minutes, she hung up, shoving the phone back in her pocket and slipping her boots on wordlessly. "I have to go to a meeting with Claire. Stay with Hadley. I'll be back."

The door was shut before Owen had a chance to say goodbye, and he sighed.

"Dadda?" Hadley's voice came from Owen's feet, and he smiled as he knelt down.

"Yeah, pumpkin?"

"Where Momma go?"

"Momma had a meeting, okay? You're gonna hang out with Dad for a little while." Owen told her with a smile.

Hadley grinned and then looked curious, reaching a hand to Owen's wrapped arm. He was supposed to go see Dr. Ying in a week- the stitches needed to be tended to, and they couldn't do that with a hard cast. So Owen's wrist was held tightly in a splint, and the stitches wrapped up to keep infection away until they could come out and a cast could go on. "Dadda has a booboo."

Owen nodded. "Yes, Dadda has a booboo. A big booboo."

It was eight thirty by the time Sasha pulled back in the driveway, and she was ready for the day to be over. Still frustrated with Owen, and drowning in all of the work Claire had for her. She hopped out of the Jeep, balancing her purse and papers on her arm as she shut the door.

The house was quiet when she entered. Owen must've got Hadley to bed at her eight o'clock bedtime. Thinking about their daughter, Sasha sighed. She knew Owen was just excited to see the raptors, and she knew they were dangerous. But to her, it wasn't 'fine' that he lost fingers. To her it was scary, acting as a prelude for what was to come. Owen didn't see that though, only thankful for the fact that he hadn't lost a hand.

Sasha knew she was being a bit ridiculous. Hell, he was on heavy pain medication, and had a concussion to go along with it. But her brain wanted to be mad at him. Oh, so very badly. Though deep down, she knew instinctively that it was in fact all okay. They were all together, and they were all safe. She knew it was the bad memories from the I-Rex clouding her judgement. But to her, those raptors and that monster were made in the same place. And the intelligence she had seen in the raptors when they were babies was unlike any animal she'd ever seen.

As Sasha draped her jacket over a chair and toed her boots off, she shook out her hair and rubbed her face with a hand. "Ugh."

She stopped by Hadley's room and made sure her baby was still asleep, murmuring "I love you." and "Goodnight," before kissing her forehead and exiting.

Upstairs in the bedroom was also oddly quiet, but Owen was nowhere to be seen. Sasha saw light seeping under the en suite bathroom door, and quietly pushed the it open. Entering, she found her husband sitting on the bathroom counter, tentatively unwrapping his injured arm. She forgot they were supposed to change bandages. Wordlessly, she took his injured arm into her arms and began unwrapping, bracing herself for what she knew lay under the gauze.

It was worse than she thought. All the way from his first knuckles to halfway up his elbow, there were stitches. And they were everywhere. Scattered about over, under, and on the sides of his forearm. Near the splint, it was all black and blue, swollen to the size of a softball. His hand was harder to look at; it was strange, as Sasha never would've guessed how different it looked with only four fingers. It was such a trivial thing to think of how many fingers a person had. Until they were gone.

Sasha quickly went about changing bandages and cleaning the wound, wrapping it back up quickly and taping it off. Owen winced every now and again, but it was relieving to have Sasha even touching him again. As she turned to put the first-aid supplies back in the cupboard, Owen grasped her elbow with his good hand.

"Hey." He rumbled softly, catching her one good eye with his green ones.

"Hi."

Owen paused, looking to her carefully. "You're talking now?" He snapped, though instantly feeling guilty. "Sorry."

Sasha shook her head a smiled gently. "I deserve it. I was a bitch this morning-"

"But you were right, Sasha. I love working with these animals, but I love you and Hadley more." Owen stopped, green eyes sincere. "And I didn't realize what all of this meant until now… I showed weakness to Blue. Those raptors might see me as a weak link now. It's even more dangerous than it was before. And I don't wanna endanger what we have because of some crazy addiction I developed ten years ago."

Sasha bit her lip, taking in a short breath. "Owen, you were born to do this. I know we may not like danger, especially after the…. incident, but let's face it. Are we really ever going to avoid it all?"

A smile made its way across Owen's face and he pulled Sasha to him gently. Careful to avoid his mauled forearm, he hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry."

"I am. The silent treatment is stupid." Sasha said, padding across the room to the other vanity. She pulled a hairbrush from the top drawer. "I feel disgusting."

Owen snorted. "Not used to the tropics again yet?"

Sasha curled her lip at the frizz as she brushed her hair. "Not even close."

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The days that followed did not bode well for the Grady family. Owen's healing was slow, and his broken wrist continued to swell. Due to the stitches that were in the path of a cast, Dr. Ying was unable to correctly set the bones without fear of them breaking again. Owen was icing his wrist to the point of constant numbness, but it did nothing to soothe the angry purple swell. They had to wait until the stitches would come out to set the bone properly.

Dr. Ying told Sasha she could have an orthopaedic doctor on the island within the week but Owen refused. He stated that he trusted Dr. Ying to re-break his bones in a week when the cast came off. Sasha had rolled her eyes at the statement but it was no shock to her.

Despite the constant pain and stress due to a broken wrist and a missing finger, Owen was itching to see his raptors. He knew it was going to require a lot of work and focus from his part, but was willing to put it in. If it met restoring the bond they shared before the I-Rex incident, it was worth it. Owen was mindful of his family though- he didn't want to dive headlong into it. They still had yet to figure out the school and daycare arrangement for Hadley, though Claire assured them Jurassic World had the most sophisticated daycare there was downtown. It had been part of the negotiation for employees to return. Most had families, but weren't willing to split up after the last incident. Having the daycare for young children was a plus, but even better was the school.

It was called 'World's Academy', and was located East of what would be the busy tourist spots. They boasted some of the world's best educators, and educated children in more aspects of the world than generic public schools. No one without a doctorate was teaching at the academy. There would be at least five hundred children attending, ranging from pre-school to twelfth grade, when they would be old enough to decide where to go at that point.

It all sounded pretty good to Owen. The school was heavily guarded by security, as was the daycare facility. Another request of the employees. If another asset escaped, they wanted to ensure the safety of their children. It made Owen feel better, though something in him was revolted by the idea of leaving his daughter anywhere on Isla Nublar without him or Sasha by her side. He supposed it was the protective parent side. Or, the PTSD-struck animal trainer/behaviorist who was almost killed on the very same island less than three years ago. As it seemed, he suspected it was more the latter, though the former couldn't be discounted.

But the time when Owen and Sasha had to leave their daughter in the daycare was nearing, hovering over Owen like an anvil.

"Hads, you gotta stay here today. It's just like school at home, remember? Stay here until lunchtime, and Momma will come get you." Owen told his daughter softly, kneeling to her height on the bright colored floor.

He observed the daycare with curious eyes. It looked nice enough. A small nook in the back for the employees to read to the children, and a small area for lunch. The front had hooks lining the wall about a foot above the ground, tiny jackets dangling.

"But Dadda, I don't wanna." Hadley whined, small hand resting on Owen's cheek as he kneeled down.

He sighed. Sasha was always better at calming Hadley down than he was. But his wife was on a call already, forced back into the workflow by desperate cries of help from the returning residents. They suffered- just like Owen and Sasha.

"I know you don't wanna sweetheart, but you have too. You're such a big girl now, I know you can do it! You're gonna be three in a couple months! I bet three year olds aren't afraid of daycare." Owen challenged.

Hadley's expression morphed into a thoughtful one. "I a big girl."

Owen smiled. "Yeah you are. And you gotta be. For me. You know you gotta help out 'cause I've got this big booboo that Momma and I need to go to the doctor for today."

Hadley gently touched the bandages on Owen's arm. "Fix it?"

"Yeah honey. I'm gonna go get it fixed. So can you stay here with Mrs. Detloff until lunch?" Owen asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I stay here." Hadley confirmed. She looked around, smiling at another young girl about her age.

"Good. Alright Daddy's gotta go to the doctor. You stay here and play, I'll be back for peanut butter sandwiches."

Never had Owen felt such a sense of reluctance as he walked out the door of Worlds Academy.